The Overwhelming Sound of RED

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CROP 2Z5A9474The band RED has just released their fifth studio album entitled Of Beauty and Rage on Essential Records on February 24. The album debuted in the Top 15 on the Billboard Top 200, and is #10 on the SoundScan Top Current Albums chart. The band is clearly excited about the debut, but big sales and radio play are never the bands initial intention when making music.When Screamer Magazine spoke with guitarist Anthony Armstrong recently he explained that when it came to this latest album “…we didn’t worry about radio play or certain song lengths, we just did what we wanted. We didn’t do that intentionally, it was just genuine. If something isn’t genuine it’s not art. Young bands out there who intentionally try to get on the radio I would say don’t. You’ll sell more albums if people can relate to everything you’re saying anyway. People can tell when things are faked.”

RED_ofBeautyandRage_cvr-hi SMALLFor those who may be unfamiliar with the force to be reckoned with that is the band RED, they are a Christian rock band that formed in 2004 in Nashville, Tennessee . The line up consists of singer Michael Barnes, guitarist Anthony Armstrong, and bassist Randy Armstrong. The band has had ten consecutive #1 hits on Christian radio  and currently has over one million Facebook fans. Thinking of RED as just a “Christian rock band”  though is misleading. They are known for incorporating styles ranging from hard rock, heavy metal,  alternative metal, and post-grunge among others into their music. Armstrong described the sound of the bands latest album as “overwhelming.” Since this is not a typical description for music, Armstrong elaborated, “ it’s a whole bunch of different things coming at you all at once. It’s almost like a movie soundtrack. You can just put the album on and imagine a movie that goes with it.” Anthony went on to say that, “We deliver our music and message aggressively using themes of theatricality and delving into the darkest parts of our lives in order to bring out the good.  We are relentless and will stop at nothing to deliver great music that will inspire…” Of Beauty and Rage truly is an epic, sweeping mix of high-concept introspective lyrics, brutal guitar riffs, and dark melodic string sections that begs to be listened to. Although there is not specifically a movie that goes with it, the bands intention was to create something reminiscent of a movie and let the listener create their own images.

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Of course, if one is desperate to see visuals for the band’s music without conjuring them up in their own head, they can always check out the new video for the Darkest Part which premiered on Loudwire on February 23, and is also featured on Xbox Live consoles. There is also a  full-length graphic novel inspired by both the bands previous videos and the new album that was released simultaneously with Of Beauty and Rage. The novel tells the story of RED fighting Accedia to save mankind. Armstrong explained that the “…graphic novel is tying together different concepts from different songs. We had the idea and had different people send samples and we liked how this artist did likenesses of the band, so we chose him.” When asked if the graphic novel concept affected the direction of the music featured on Of Beauty and Rage, Armstrong replied, “We are all film nerds and it just happens naturally. The movie sound isn’t just because of the graphic novel.”

RED is currently on a North American tour that concludes this month and is looking into international dates according to Armstrong.

Official website – http://www.redmusiconline.com/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/redmusiconline

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/redmusiconline?ref=br_tf

Instagram – http://instagram.com/REDMUSICONLINE

The new video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KzK-1M3QjE

3 thoughts on “The Overwhelming Sound of RED

  1. While watching a music video program the announcer looked into the camera lens and just before playing the song Breathe into me said “there is something special about this band” – that caught my attention. End of Silence really touched me. Fast forward to Of Beauty and Rage. I’m so grateful that God allowed me to find Red’s music. It has encouraged me, motivated me and strengthened me for what lies ahead. Being a musician myself I’m eternally grateful… For “Such a time as this” we have been blessed with Red……

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